Portland Trail Blazers: Early look at 10 targets in 2020 Free Agency

While the Portland Trail Blazers do not have the finances to chase after this summer’s deep free agent class, many options will be available in 2020.

Although the rest of the league may have their eyes fixated on this year’s highly touted class of free agents, the Portland Trail Blazers can afford no such luxury. While other teams and fans sit anxiously watching the rumor mill, Portland will have already taken the first steps towards planning for free agency in 2020.

The Blazers might not be able to heavily participate in this year’s free agency, but the salary in expiring contracts they are set to shed after next year is in excess of $44 million. With only six active players contracted with the franchise through the 2019-20 season, the Blazers will have plenty of interesting options at their disposal.

Let’s take a look at the Portland Trail Blazers’ payroll heading into 2020’s free agency:

• Damian Lillard: $31,626,953
• CJ McCollum:  $29,354,152
• Jusuf Nurkic: $12,000,000
• Zach Collins: $5,406,255
• Anfernee Simons: $2,252,040
• Gary Trent: $1,663,861
• 2019 first-round pick: $2,068,000

Portland will also have to account for the money owed to previously waived players.

• Andrew Nicholson: $2,844,429 (cap hit)
• Anderson Varejao: $1,913,345 (cap hit)

Total Expected Cap Holds: $89,129,035

Shams Charania of the Athletic first reported the expected jump in cap room for all teams last September.

This means the Blazers will have just shy of $30 million to fill out the roster around the core seven players listed above. With that much financial flexibility, there are several roads Portland can opt to walk on en route to building a true title contender team.

Let’s take an in-depth look at some of these options that may present themselves and determine which players could make the biggest impact on the Portland Trail Blazers next summer.